Spirited survival: Fire, scotch & camaraderie

Our contingent was proceeding to Democratic Republic of Congo and the outgoing staff gave us some useful tips for our tenure in the war-torn country.

- Col HP Singh (retd)

Our contingent was proceeding to Democratic Republic of Congo and the outgoing staff gave us some useful tips for our tenure in the war-torn country. The most important suggestion was to bring "sufficient quantity of duty-free scotch", given its scarcity and high price. Every passport allows you to buy two bottles of liquor; we had enough numbers to stock up for an entire year.

Being the senior-most staff officer in the brigade headquarters, I was given the responsibility of managing this prized commodity and rationing it if required. Arrangements were made for its safe custody and only the quarter guard of the brigade camp was better secured than the 'Scotch hut', as we called it. Our deputy commander, however, was always wary of the loose generator wires providing electricity to the field mess housed in tentage accommodation.